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Warren Haynes, Gov’t Mule, Gregg Allman, Cabinet, Free Radio, Kevn Kinney & The All Access Christmas Jaminates and Artimus Pyle Band held it down at the Christmas Jam Pre-Jam at The Orange Peel in Asheville, NC last night. The artists were joined by a number of special guests, including Bill Evans, Andy Hess, Ike Stubblefield, Randall Bramblett and more.

Warren Haynes got the event going with a very brief set that featured his take on Radiohead’s “Lucky,” as well as “The Real Thing.” Free Radio then followed with a five-song set that saw Haynes sit in for “On and On” to wrap things up. Cabinet then took the stage to play four tunes with Warren Haynes Band saxophonist Ron Holloway.

Kevn Kinney was joined by a variety of artists for his four song, jam-filled set. Haynes, Holloway, Gov’t Mule drummer Matt Abts, former Gov’t Mule bassist Andy Hess and singer-songwriter Aarlon Lee Tasjan helped him out on “A Good Country Mile” to get things going, while Hess, Tasjan, guitarist Mike Barnes, Lynyrd Shynyrd drummer Artimus Pyle, keyboardist Ike Stubblefield and Randall Bramblett joined in for “Underground Umbrella.” Things then came to a close with “A Song We Can All Sing” > “Straight to Hell” featuring Hess, Barnes, Pule, Stubblefield, Haynes, Tasjan and Gov’t Mule’s Danny Louis.

The Artimus Pyle Band was next up with versions of “Call Me The Breeze,” “That Smell,” “Simple Man” (with Haynes) and “Freebird.” Allman and Haynes then came out for a take on Jackson Browne’s “These Days,” as well as “Midnight Rider,” “Long Black Veil,” “All My Friends” and “Melissa.”

Gov’t Mule were the last group to take stage. The band got going with “Hammer & Nails” before Holloway joined them for “Stoop So Low (Outro 2).” A little bit later, bassist Jorgen Carlsson disappeared for a song so that Hess could reunite for Gov’t Mule for a take on The Band’s “The Shape I’m In” that also featured saxophonist Bill Evans. It was the first time that Hess had performed with Haynes since the 2008 Telluride Blues and Brews Festival. The show then continued “When The World Gets Small” and “Steppin’ Lately” before the band exited for the encore break. Mule returned with Bramblett to close out the show with “Slackjaw Jezebel,” which was followed by a rendition of “The Letter” that featured Bramblett, Holloway, Evans, Stubblefield, Pyle and trumpeter Craig Sorrells.

You can check out some of Dino Perrucci’s photos from last night’s Pre-Jam here and you can listen to streams of a few of last night’s sets via PanicStream.

Christmas Jam will officially kick off today at the US Cellular Center in Asheville. The annual benefit concert—now in its 25th year—will feature performances by Gov’t Mule, Gregg Allman, Phil Lesh Quintet, Widespread Panic, Sco-Mule, Aquarium Rescue Unit, Grace Potter & The Nocturnals, John Scofield Uber Jam and more. The event will be webcast by TourGigs.